Welcome to Ferros Bioblog; a blog dedicated for the classic branches of Biology like (Geo)Botanic, Ecology and Systematic by Sebastian Mildenberger

Freitag, 4. November 2011

Plant of the Day (November 4th. 2011) - Rubus laciniatus Wild.

Today's “Plant of the Day” is Rubus laciniatus Wild.from the Rosaceae family and the big genus of Rubus (blackberries). In English, this species is known as “Cutleaf Blackberry” or “Evergreen Blackberry” and in German as “Schlizblättrige Brombeere”, what's also the translation of the Latin name. (laciniatus means cutleafed).

R. laciniatus - habitus

Like all Blackberries, this plant is a climbing shrub, which can climb to heights until 3 or five metres. Their stem is angular and bald, while its “thorns” are between 6 and 8 millimetres long (in fact, the thorns of the Rosaceae are spikes. A spike is a pointed protuberance of the epidermis while a thorn is a special leaf-morphology (cactuses have thorns). However, because it's usual to speak of a thorn in the context with roses, I'll use this word also in my blog.).

R. laciniatus - leaves

The leaves are pinnate to double pinnate, while the leaflets are digitate, what is an unique character of this species.

Each flower consists of five green sepals, five white to pink tepals and 20 stamens and carpels. The ripe fruit is a typical blackberry, which is in fact not a berry but consists of many small drupes.

R. laciniatus -fruits

Originally, R. lanciniatus comes from England, but today, it can be found worldwide as wild growing garden plant. Like all blackberries, it prefers nutrient-rich and calcareous soils at bright places. So it can be found on ruderal wastelands, clearings or the edge of forests.